Vision 2020 : The Right to Sight

CBM is a founder member of the global initiative to eliminate avoidable blindness in conjunction with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB).

What is Vision 2020?

Vision 2020 aims to prevent avoidable blindness claiming the sight of an estimated 100 million adults and children by the year 2020.

The programme is designed to enable all parties and individuals involved in combating blindness to work in a focused and coordinated partnership with each other and with one common voice and goal - to eliminate avoidable blindness.

CBM and Vision 2020

The Vision 2020 programme is key to CBM's eye work in the developing world.

Through our partner projects, we provide treatment, aftercare and support to more than 15 million people per year who face being blinded by conditions such as cataracts, onchocerciasis (River Blindness), trachoma, glaucoma, retinoblastoma and vitamin A deficiency.

We also provide community based training and education programmes to detect and prevent avoidable blindness from infections like Trachoma, and dietary information to protect people from blindness as a result of a vitamin A deficiency.

• There are approximately 314 million people in the world who are blind or have low vision.
• Approximately 45 million of these people are blind, and 269 million people have low vision.
• Around 80% have avoidable blindness - that could have been prevented or can be cured
• 90% of blind people live in developing countries.
• Women and girls make up two-thirds of the global blind population.

Further Reading

Vision 2020 : The Right to Sight - Official Website